The Dream Chaser space plane, designed by Sparks company Sierra Nevada Corp.

Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) expanded the footprint of its Dream Chaser space system following cooperative agreements with two European agencies.

SNC will work with the European Space Agency and the German Aerospace Center on potential applications of European technologies to its current Dream Chaser design as well as advanced derivative versions of the space vehicle.

The agreement also gives SNC's Dream Chaser program additional options outside its main mission of ferrying astronauts from the United States and its partner nations to low-Earth orbit.

The Dream Chaser program is part of a government-funded effort to develop privately operated vehicles to carry crew and cargo to space. Last month, SNC announced that the program completed all milestones for the second phase of NASA's Commercial Crew Development program.

SNC is headquartered in Sparks while its space systems division is based in Colorado. The company specializes in advanced spacecraft, space vehicles, rocket motors and spacecraft subsystems.